Hydraulic ejector



Feb. 14, 1939. Y AV R BREWER HYDRAULIC EJECTOR Filed April 15. 1936 A'ml FK //VVVVVV.

INVENTOR ATTORN EY Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE 1Claim.

'Ihis ejector is adaptable to be supported or suspended in unlimitedways to correspond with the local requirements under which it is tooperate. It may be supported or suspended from a hull or barge as indredging operations.

A few of the useful purposes to which this device may be adapted, whenbuilt in the larger sizes, are, the elevation of liquids, or liquidssaturated with solid material, the excavation of open pits, Water wells,shafts and the like in glacial gravel deposits and for placer miningpurposes.

My invention relates to improvements in hydraulic ejectors, and theobjects of my improvements are: rst, to provide a means for eroding ordisintegrating a deposit or material to be elevated; second, to providea means for dislodging oversize solids or obstructions at the intake;third, to provide an easily accessible adjustment for an annular orificeor blowup port.

In disclosing my invention I do not wish to be limited to the exactdetail of construction which I have used in the drawing to illustratethe principles of my invention. With these and other objects in view,the invention consists of the novel features of construction hereinaftershown and described and then pointed out in the claim.

One embodiment of the invention is represented in the drawing forming apart of this specification in which similar characters of referenceindicate corresponding par-ts in all the views.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the mechanism embodying theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the adjusting clamp I3.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the packing gland I2.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the centering spider support 6.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the semi-annular blowdown ejecting port coverI9.

In the embodiment of my invention I employ an outside cylindrical member2 and an inner cylindrical member I, the same being held in concentricrelation to each other by collars I I and 4. Said inside cylindricalmember I is bisected to form an annular blowup ejecting port 2l and thelower portion of said inside cylindrical member Iv is rigidly threadedinto a collar 4; collar 4 has a plurality of annular spaced eroding jetopenings 23 which are provi-ded with interchangeable eroding tips 5; 22is a semiannular blowdown ejecting port. It will be noted that theblowup ejecting port 2|, the blowdown ejecting port 22, and the erodingjet openings 23 are each connected to the distributing chamber 25. Themain intake elbow 3 connects With said distributing chamber 25. Reducingring 34 is threaded to the lower or intake end of the inside cylindricalmember I; the sealing collar 'I is rigidly attached to the outsidecylindrical member 2 by means of a plurality of setscrews 28. Theannular shaped piston 9 5 operates in an annular shaped piston chamber'8E the piston clearance when in its upper position is provided for by aplurality of limit stop pins I0 and when the piston is at its lowerposition the piston clearance is provided for by enlarged 10 portions 36of piston rods 2U.

In the drawing said annular piston 9 is shown at its lower position.Elbow I8 connects with the upper side of piston 9 and the lower elbow I8 connects with the lower side of piston 9. The two 15 cylinder exhaustports are shown at 24. The lower end of piston rods 20 connects with anannular blowdown ejecting port cover I9 which covers the semi-annularblowdown ejecting port 22; adjustment of the semi-annular blowdown 20ejecting'port cover I9 is` provided for by adjusting nuts 38.

The upper and lower portions of member I are supported in exactalignment by means of a spider support 6 said spider support 6 being 25rigidly attached to the outside cylindrical member 2 by a plurality ofsetscrews 29; collar d is rigidly attached to outside cylindrical member2 by means of a plurality of setscrews 30. Collar II is rigidly attachedto the outside cylindrical 30 member 2 by a plurality of setscrews 2l.The annular piston 9 is provided with double leather packing seals I6and I'I said leather packing seals I6 and I1 being held in position bycover 35 and capscrews 31. Collar II contains packing I5 which 35 isheld in position by packing gland cover I2; packing gland cover I2 isadjustably held in position by means of nuts 33 located on studs 3|.Adjusting clamp I3 is attached to the inside cylindrical member I bymeans of a plurality of set- 40 screws 26. Adjustment of the blowupejecting port 2| is provided for by means of adjusting clamp I3 and nuts32 on studs 3I. A companion pipe ange is shown at I4.

With reference to the method of operation of 45 my ejector, an elevatingpipe or tube is connected to the companion ange I4, the upper end ofsuch elevating pipe or tube being located at the discharge at somepreferred elevation; the intake elbow 3 is connected to an intake pipe50 which is in turn connected to a pressure pump or to some other sourceof water supply; the supply water is delivered under pressure tocorrespond with the height to which it is desired to deliver thematerial. I have found the vertical height 55 to which material can bedelivered when working under an intake water pressure of 100 pounds persquare inch is 35 feet and proportionately with a water pressure of 200pounds per square inch the elevating height to which the material may belifted is feet with my ejector. This represents the efficiency of thesolid Vacuum liquid cone formed by the annular blowup orifice 2l. Inorder to lessen the friction and produce the above mentioned efficiencyI have found it necessary to har-den, grind, and polish the adjacentwalls forming the annular orifice 2|; in this way I have produced asolid vacuum liquid cone which solidarity is necessary in the productionof high efficiency.

I have found that the quantity of water entering the intake of theejector is equal to the quantity of feed water passing thru the annularorifice 2|; that is, for each cubic foot of water entering the intake ofthe ejector a like cubic foot of water is required to pass upward thruthe annular orifice 2|, and I have found that this rule applies to allsizes of ejectors and determines the diameters of the elevator intakeand the supply water intake which should be equal.

In operation, the feed water entering the distributing chamber 25 isdivided, a portion passing upward thru the annular blowup orice 2|, theother portion passing downward thru a plurality of conical shapedorifices or eroding ports 23, producing a plurality of hydraulic jetswhich penetrate deeply into the deposit of solids, eroding andl boilingthe same upward, heavily saturating the intake water with solids for thepurpose of keeping up a maximum and uniform feed into the ejector. Whenexcavating is being done. in gravel deposits, such as placer deposits,many oversize solids too large to enter the intake ofthe ejector aredrawn up by suction forces which have a tendency to clcgrthe intake ofthe ejector; often rounded boulders will become rigidly bound againstthe inner wall of the intake requiring great pressure to dislodge them.In the operation of removing or dislodging such oversize obstructions asmall pipe line is connected at some convenient location intoy the mainfeed or pressure line and a small 2-way quick opening Valve is connectedto the outer end of said pipe, both not shown in the drawing; two smalllpipe lines, also not shown in the drawing, connect said quick openingvalve one of which in turn connects with small elbow I8 and the otherwith small elbow I8'. When a small hand lever connected to the stem ofsaid 2-way valve is thrown to the left, water under pressure enters thelower end of piston chamber 8 thru the small elbowV I8 causing theannular piston 9 to rise, lifting with it piston rods 20 andsemi-annular port cover I9, causing a small portion of the feed water toescape from the distributing chamber `25 thru a semi-annular orice orblowdown port 22, said small quantity of water exerting a heavy,instantaneous, and dynamic forceV against sai-d obstruction, causing itto be blown at an angle to one side, clear of the suction zone, to aposition where it will not again be drawn up as before. When said leverconnecting the quick opening 2-way valve is thrown to the right, theWater becomes turned off from the lower side of piston 9 and at the sametime water enters the upper portion of piston chamber 8 thru elbow I8,causing piston 9, piston rods 20, and semi-annular port cover I9 toagain be lowered to their original position, closing the semi-annularblowdown port 22. This operation is almost instantaneous, requiring aduration of about two seconds and in no way interferes with the normalprogress of either the eroding jets or the elevating of the material.Thus the function of eroding the material for the purpose ofaccelerating the feed, the function of elevating the material anddelivering it to the desired location, and the function of dislodgingoversize obstructions are all coordinated to produce the desired resultswithout in any way interfering with another.

When the feed water is shut off from an ejector of the type to which mydevice belongs, the water standing in the discharge pipe flows downward,carrying with it a large percentage of solids which have a tendencywhile settling to enter the annular blowup orifice, finding its way intothe chamber below obstructing it; in my construction I have avoided thisobjectionable feature by continuing the inner cylindrical tube ofuniform diameterv avoiding an offset or shoulder which would leave saidannular orice exposed to the settling solids.

The cross sectional area or size of the blowup annular orifice 2| mustcorrespond with the volume of fee-d water passing thru it, and as thevolume of feed water is variable under different operating conditions itis necessary or advisable to provide some means of adjusting the size ofsaid orifice. In some classes of Work and under ordinary workingconditions it is usually necessary to make such adjustments frequentlyand such means of adjustment therefore should be easily accessible, andshould be so arranged as to admit of adjustments being made while theejector is in operation. I have accomplished these features in myconstruction by providing a means of adjusting the upper portion of thecylindrical tube in an upward or downward direction by moving theadjusting nuts 32 on studs 3|.

v Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire toprotect by Letters Patent 1s:

In an ejector of the kind described, the combination of a cylindricaloutside member, a cylindrical elevating member centrally located thereinsupported by an 4upper and a lower collar and an intermediate collarforming an annular piston chamber between said upper collar and theintermediate collar, an annular piston operating in said annular pistonchamber; means for directing fluid under pressure alternately againstthe upper and lower sides of said piston; a plurality of piston rodsconnecting said annular piston at the upper ends and connecting asemi-annular port cover at their lower ends communicating with asemi-annular orifice; and means for directing fluid under pressure thrusaid semiannular orifice, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

y ALDEN R.. BREWER.

